Originally posted by 042801 Look for power output, and dts decoding are good features.

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More importantly, clean power output. The (THD) total harmonic distortion of good amps will be around .08% to .005% they provide very clean power.

Some companies will try to fool you and say that at 2 channels, the THD is .05%, but when using 5.1 (5 channels of amplification), it changes to .5% Too much distortion will harm speakers and it can also cause the amp to clip sooner.

I would suggest looking for a used Sony ES, Onkyo, Yamaha, etc.

Stay away from the lower end Pioneers, I have had bad expeirences with them.

Originally posted by cctyler More importantly, clean power output. The (THD) total harmonic distortion of good amps will be around .08% to .005% they provide very clean power.

Some companies will try to fool you and say that at 2 channels, the THD is .05%, but when using 5.1 (5 channels of amplification), it changes to .5% Too much distortion will harm speakers and it can also cause the amp to clip sooner.

I would suggest looking for a used Sony ES, Onkyo, Yamaha, etc.

Stay away from the lower end Pioneers, I have had bad expeirences with them.

Please read the above. It is stickied at the top of home and car audio. The THD level quoted by manufacturers is meaningless.

Some of the most expensive amplifiers in the world have THD over 1% at 1w, those being tube amplifiers.

Distortion will not kill your speakers, it will allow more power to get to your speakers, nothing more, nothing less, unless you are talking about high frequency transducers. Overpowering a speaker WILL KILL IT.

Also, the amount of THD has no effect on the point where the amplifier will begin clipping, because a doubt any manufacturer rates his amplifier at full constant power.